New York Renovator

Here’s something terrific! Buy electrical supplies online! I would never buy electrical supplies from just anyone, though– who knows where it was manufactured, if it is codes-applicable, or if it was made in the U.S.? I only buy new stuff, and I only get it from reputable sellers. I saw some great deals (as usual) at Buy.com. Check out their sale page, distributed weekly. They have great sales all the time, on electronics, small appliances, and loads of stuff. But Buy.com also sells tons and tons of other products, including housewares, tools, home and garden supplies, and electrical equipment! There are some really good prices on circuit panel boxes, electrical testing tools, and these nice arc-fault circuit breakers (AFCI) that I have been looking into. These new circuit breakers are now required in all residential buildings in my township, in accordance to the National Electric Code. But the breakers are WILDLY expensive at my local retailer. Plus, paying sales tax on these babies can easily break my little piggy bank…

Well, at Buy.com, they are affordable, and I don’t have to pay sales tax! Very cool.

Buy.com also sells electrical tape, sockets, feed hubs, voltage testers, specialty pouches and belts, and various other supplies. Great deals! Some stuff comes with free shipping, too. And don’t limit Buy.com to just that– Buy.com has e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g! Books, shoes, jewelry, home appliances big and small, parts for appliances, patio furniture, gadgets, home decor items, LOADS of stuff. Prices are great, and customer service is superb. Keep Buy.com in mind when you’re looking for stuff. And save yourself some gas and time– it’s easy to order all the stuff you need, right on the Net.

In August, I wrote a post about “planned obsolescence” and a great video called “The Story of Stuff.” In a nutshell, the video tells us that our economy relies on the constant activity of the shopper (that is, shopping) to keep the economy rolling. That’s why so few save, debt is so high, and it’s why the stuff we buy does not last. I was once again reminded of this when I wrote my post about my 6-month-old vacuum cleaner breaking down (and it never really worked right, anyway). This planned obsolescence and shopping craze is a system, a purposeful plan by governments to cash in on our slave labor and on more power and trading.

This video, “The Story of Stuff,” spells out the entire system and how it works. It’s a GREAT video and I think it’s very timely. Here is a trailer of the entire video.

See? Why else do we have to replace, on a CONSTANT basis, everything from toasters to vacuums to bathroom vanities to cars? That’s why!

This kind of an economy is not sustainable. There is an END to its cycle, and it isn’t a happy ending. Governments (who have grown fat off our backs with this kind of economy) are doing everything they can to prevent the end, but by prolonging the agony, we will experience the economy’s long, agonizing death. The only ones who will walk away with money in their pockets will be the international bankers (in the U.S., this includes the Federal Reserve) and the politicians (who are paid by the international bankers). Looking to the government for “change” will further enslave us into their system, as we are seeing right before our eyes.

We can only wish. Then we’d have nowhere to go but up.

According to Bloomberg, this may be the year the housing market bottoms out. Hmm. I am skeptical; we’ll see. I haven’t seen any moves by anyone to tighten the belt or hit a diet supplements routine. Instead, I still see an awful lot of gorging!

U.S. home prices will reach bottom by the end of the year, concluding a slide that will have cut values 36 percent, Moody’s Economy.com said today.

“Notwithstanding the intensifying economic gloom, the bottom of the housing downturn is within sight,” chief economist Mark Zandi said in a statement today. “Presuming we see strong action by policymakers to help support the economy and the housing market, prices will begin to recover by the end of this year.”

Demand for new and existing homes began to fall in 2005, marking the end of a five-year U.S. housing boom fueled in part by easy credit for subprime borrowers. Existing home prices tumbled from an average high of $230,200 in July 2006 to $175,400 in December, according to data from the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors.

U.S. home prices will fall another 11 percent on average before stabilizing, according to Moody’s Economy.com. The Case- Shiller home price index will fall 36 percent from its 2006 peak to the bottom this year, Zandi’s study said.

About 62 percent of U.S. metropolitan areas surveyed will record double-digit declines in home prices by the end of the slump, according to today’s report. Prices will fall more than 50 percent in former boom areas such as southeast Florida and parts of California, including Riverside.

The rest of the nation is experiencing what we in New York State have been seeing for the past 15-20 years. So here, the housing market decline is not as unbearable… to every cloud there’s a silver lining, I guess… *laughs manically*.

You know, when the American people were clamoring to the government, demanding that the government “create jobs,” I think Americans forgot to tell the leaders– “Uh, we meant create more jobs for AMERICANS.” Because that’s a lot of the problem, here– the outsourcing of everything, everything except retail industry jobs. You just cannot base an economy on “Paper or plastic?” and “Do you want fries with that?” DUH!!!

Anyway, it’s really up to us to make this economy work. Shopping our way out a recession is not going to work– getting out of debt, building savings, and living frugally is what will do it.

Well, despite gloomy news in the housing market, people still have rickety old houses that need renovating (like yours truly). I’ve been keeping my eye on “trends” for renovations and new construction for several years now, trying to stay slightly ahead of the game; so, when it comes my time to gut my kitchen or bathroom, I’ll be modernized and efficient (and therefore won’t have to re-update in 5 to 10 years like so many of my neighbors do). One thing I have learned is– keep it simple. You can’t go wrong with keeping things simple. I try to think beyond design and make systems and functions simple, too.

According to the UK’s House to Home, the bathroom trends for 2009 are:

• Natural Beauty
• Hotel glamour
• Freestanding baths
• Shower power
• Bathroom storage

I like that list (nice and simple!), however it’s missing one thing– a trend toward “universal design.” Universal design is what I am considering to be the ideal standard bathrooms design. With the majority of the populace getting older (Baby Boomers and such), universal design is becoming almost standard in new bathroom design, but it is commonly overlooked in renovation. I am using it in small ways myself now, and intend on going that route entirely when I remodel the bathrooms.

Universal design is kind of like the ergonomics for bathroom accessories. For example, instead of round doorknobs, which are more difficult for older hands to twist and open, use lever door handles. Instead of moulded bathtubs that are integrated into the wall (bathtubs that are very difficult to climb in and out), use kudos showers that have doors, even wider, bi-fold doors,– you can just walk in. Some showers even have stools and should definitely have handles.

Common universal design features:

• Grab bars in tub/shower and around toilet area
• Walk-in tubs and/or showers; showers with seats; tub handles placed to the side and not inside the tub/shower
• Elevated (taller) sinks and cabinets, to eliminate bending to wash hands and face
• Lever door handles and lever faucet handles
• Wider doorways and wider tub/shower entrances (36″ wide) to accommodate wider people and/or wheelchairs
• Taller toilets, or toilets on pedestals, to eliminate bending; elongated toilets instead of round ones

So while I like natural neutral colors, hotel glamour, and “shower power,” I think a trend that should remain consistent and never become outdated is universal design. Don’t overlook this when renovating or building! You will thank yourself when you are older.

On a sidenote, at the beginning of a new presidential term, I always wonder how cartoonists will characterize the new presidents. I thought GW Bush’s characterizations were extremely funny when they came out. Obama’s look is a bit too bland, me thinks. I couldn’t tell who this was until I saw the purple lips and tilted up head.

I have long considered (and tossed around at great length) whether to finance our home improvements and renovations with a bank loan or with a credit card loan. My own personal credit is very good, which has given me great options for credit card loans; but bank interest rates and home equity loan rates really haven’t changed much for me. I know one family that financed their entire tens-of-thousands renovation with credit cards, and they had everything paid off within six years and paid very minimal interest. This is extremely appealing to me. Credit cards have extreme flexibility. But you have to be disciplined to control your spending and pay it off in time for it to work.  How have you financed your improvements, and how did it go? With the banking industry crisis, I haven’t seen banks willing to budge their rates very much. Yet with credit card loans, my good credit can get me a very low APR.

Anyway, with all these choices, it helps a great deal to be able to comparison shop for better rates and search for the top credit card offers. There’s a great website to check for such comparison shopping: CreditCardFlyers.com. It will itemize the rates you are looking for, by company, by instant credit notification, by reward points, by balance transfer amounts, by low APR, by cash-back offers, and more. The website is free to peruse, and you just might find the good APR or rewards card you’ve been waiting for. I think it’s smart to list all the cards and rates together, so they can compete off one another and we consumers can finally benefit from it!

Financing is hard work– harder work than renovating, I think! Know your options and scout around for the best deals. I’m hoping that this year is MY year to finally finance and get that new kitchen! And as always, do your homework before leaping into a financing plan!

If you follow the news, you’ve no doubt heard that the traditional media newpaper outlets are seeing record losses. More and more people are getting their information from the Internet. I am extremely happy to see it, as I believe that there is more freedom on the Internet than in any other media form today.

But as the newspapers fold, so does the advertising. I have been seeing a trend, despite nayayers who say that a downward economy spells doom for media outlets. Not the Internet, anyway. Actually, for those of us who rely on the Internet for our information and for ou livelihood (like me), we will be seeing an upward trend, as advertisers intend on shifting their focus to the Internet for their market.

This is a good articles from the eMarketer:

In our latest projections, released in August, eMarketer saw online advertising growing from $24.5 billion in 2008 to $28.5 billion in 2009. eMarketer benchmarks its online ad spending projections against quarterly reports by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), which uses PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to conduct its surveys. For the first half of 2008, the IAB reported 15.2% growth for online ad spending, which is in line with eMarketer’s predictions.

Another factor confirming our predictions is that the combined growth rate for first half online ad revenues among the top four US portals—Yahoo!, Google, AOL and Microsoft—was 19%.

Although most of the following projections from a range of different analyst firms and researchers are likely to be high, since they were published before the recent outpouring of negative financial news, there is still a consensus among many analysts that spending growth for online advertising will continue to show double-digit gains in both 2008 and 2009. eMarketer agrees.

It agrees with my own thinking that in times of a weak economy, advertisers will spend even more on advertising. A sluggish economy means sluggish consumers; strong advertising is meant to shake the consumers from their depression and get them to spend.

eMarketer makes some excellent points:

Marketers should rightly ask, “What is behind the bullish projections for online ad spending, especially when most traditional media are taking the financial equivalent of body blows?” The seven reasons are as follows:

• The Internet is inherently more measurable and accountable than are traditional channels.
  The Internet allows for better, more-granular targeting than do other forms of media. That reduces media waste and can save marketing dollars.
• The Internet is interactive, thereby allowing for a higher degree of engagement with consumer and business prospects and customers.
• Particularly among younger consumers, the Internet is accounting for a larger and larger share of total media time; numerous studies demonstrate that teens, millennials and other younger cohorts are spending more time online per week than they are watching television.
• The Internet plays into the consumer-in-control movement and therefore provides new opportunities for marketers to be a part of their conversations about interests, attitudes, shopping plans and even brands.
• New Web 2.0 phenomena such as blogs, social networks and Twitter provide marketers with the potential to gain rich insights into consumer behavior and attitudes (the Internet is like a perpetual focus group on steroids).
• The Internet, unlike any other medium or channel, allows marketers to reach prospects throughout the entire consumer buying cycle, from initial awareness through pre-information-gathering to sales and post-sale feedback and support.

This is good news to me– for one, I have relationships with online advertisers. I like it that the market is opening up to me. I want more advertisers to work with me. And two, this also means that companies will become more competitive; they will work a little harder to please the consumer and offer better deals and better service. So a sluggish economy, while not exacty great news, does have it’s benefits. Consumers should always be spending wisely, but now we have some leverage as well. Everything is shifting from the more traditional (and limited) avenues of information and advertising to the more instantaneous and broader avenues of the Internet and telemarketing.

There have been a rash of robberies in my area lately. I remember, years ago, when we could easily leave our doors unlocked while we went out. Not so anymore. As a matter of fact, I admit that I sometimes don’t sleep very well because I’m concerned of a break-in. There’s just SO much night time activity around here these days and it seems to have worsened along with the economy; it’s unnerving.

I always thought security systems were something for “the rich people’s homes.” I always saw that blue octagonal “ADT” decals on doors of houses I visited. I have recently checked into the ADT home security system, and I must say: I am impressed. It’s very affordable! I don’t see how any home can be without it.

There are many various options and plans you can choose from with the ADT security system. You can mix and match an alarm system with video surveillance, 24-hour burglary monitoring, or get their new TouchPad system (it disarms the alarm with a wave of a special remote keychain device). Installation cost is as low as $99 (there’s a special going on right now, see here) and monthly monitoring costs are right around $35– that’s the cost of a pizza dinner for 6, people. I had no idea ADT was so affordable! And now I know why so many New York State homes have ADT– there’s a monitoring station here in the state, and ADT is the largest and most reliable security system in the country. ADT can monitor for burglary, fire, flooding (oh THAT would be wonderful for my property!), medical emergencies and more. The ADT Safewatch QuickConnect plan has gotten good reviews, too.

I’m looking into the ADT security system for my home. I recommend you do so, too. ADT offers a free home security evaluation- see here. You can fill in the form and an ADT representative will contact you for an appointment. If nothing else, check the website for home security tips and information about how to make your property more secure. Don’t leave things to chance!